May 23: Shares of Vedanta Ltd has dipped 34.86% from 398 to 259.25 in a month amidst ongoing protests against pollution of ground water, nearby river and starting of new copper smelter at Tuticorin by Sterlite Copper Ltd, the group company.

The Q4FY18 results were also disappointing with total revenue having fallen to Rs 16,208 cr as against Rs 19,521 cr the previous year. Net profit had fallen sharply by almost 50% to Rs 6072 cr as against Rs 11,700 cr the previous year.

As protests intensify in Tuticorin, eleven people were killed and more than 20 injured in the demonstrations that turned violent on Tuesday. Nearly, 5000 protesters marched to the District Collectorate against the ban in force. And they were denied permission by the law authorities to march to the copper smelter plant.

Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPc) has been invoked in the area for better security as per the orders of the Madras High Court, said police.

The company has maintained in its website that it has not violated any environmental norms nor polluted the ground water or river water in the area. However, Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has rejected the application for Consent to Operate given by the company.

Vedanta is a diversified company promoted by billionaire Anil Agarwal with mining and prodcution facilties for Zinc, Oil and Gas, Iron Ore, Copper, Aluminium and Power in India and abroad.

TNPCB had found 3.52 lakh tonnes of copper slag was found dumped on the site of the River Uppar causing flooding in the residential areas nearby.The company had failed to provide analysis of the ground water and done studies on the arsenic content in the area

Links

About corporateethos.in

Corporate Ethos Pvt Ltd provides latest business, financial news and analysis for the investing community with the objective of helping them make informed decisions. We have a professional team of editors, analysts and columnists who create quality content.